Baseball blog where winning determines the best players. Only wins and winning can ever determine the best players.

Sunday, January 19, 2014

WIN METHOD...2014...Tanaka...afraud...outlook

As the NEW YORK YANKEES head into the 2014 season, let us look at several issues that have been on the stove this off season.

Tanaka, the highly sought after Japanese free agent pitcher is on the open market and will be signed by a team willing to pay a significant salary for him. Having seen Tanaka pitch and having seen thousands of other pitchers in my lifetime, I have a concern with Tanaka. My concern is with his delivery and the stress he puts into many of his pitches, sometimes appearing as if he is throwing his body with his delivery. I have seen all to many pitchers who threw this way, injure themselves because this violent throwing action takes its toll on the arm, elbow, shoulder, and whatever else it may find. Tanka's motion is not truly fluid. Many of the greats in MLB who have dominated on the mound, were very smooth and fluid, using their legs and body going to the plate and dominating and intimidating batters. Many others who were also dominating where not fluid and many looked to be throwing violently thus taking a toll on their arm and body. Many of these dominated for a few years and then suddenly the wheels fell off the wagon. If the YANKEES obtain Tanaka, and from what I have heard, Tanaka WILL sign with the YANKEES, I will be pulling for him, BUT whoever Tanaka signs with, I feel Tanaka as time plays out MAY not be worth what the winning bidder is going to pay. Time will tell.

afraud, who arguably may be the most foul corrupt person to ever play MLB, a person who has lied and cheated his entire career, a person who lied and cheated on his family, his teams, the fans, and MLB has been banned from baseball for the 2014 season. Not long enough in my view, afraud should never be allowed to play baseball again. Remember WIN METHOD fans, no record of any of the steroid users is real or valued. These records of the steroid users should be eliminated from the record books and not ever be used by any fan ever.

2014 season outlook. Even at this time, without the rosters being finalized and spring training not yet open, the YANKEES look like a solid sure thing playoff team. With Captain Derek Jeter back at shortstop playing great defense and great offense, that is an upgrade from last year. Brian McCann behind the plate will be an upgrade fro last year. Mark Teixeira back at first base will be an upgrade from last year. The outfield with Elsbury, Gardner, Soriano, Beltran will be an upgrade from last year. Third base will be an upgrade from last year with a combination of several players, led by Nunez will be an upgrade from last year. We lose Cano at second base, but one minus is eliminated or nullified by so many plusses. The excess of talent at so many positions therefore allows for an automatic upgrade at the designated hitter spot. The pitching will have many potentials vying for a spot in the rotation, and if Tanaka becomes a YANKEE spring training competition will shape the rotation for the best. There are many options and many guys competing for the same. After everything shakes out the YANKEE 2014 is going to be one of accomplishment and achievement.

Glad you mentioned afraud WIN METHOD. You were the first, back almost 15 years that knew Alex Rodriquez was corrupt, a disease, and certainly not WIN METHOD, and you repeatedly stated such. You were right all along.

It is interesting hearing both sides on how much and how long to pay free agents. Go short and pay high? Go long and pay heavy? Go long and pay high? A team takes their chance no matter what they decide. I like paying higher for a short term, but then if the player does great, he will command even more money in his new contract and you could lose him. If you go long term and he fails, you are stuck paying for nothing.

This from Tanaka..""""Masahiro Tanaka says he chose to play for the New York Yankees because they appreciated him the most among the many teams in the majors who were chasing the prized signature of the star Japanese pitcher.

"They gave me the highest evaluation and are a world-famous team." Tanaka said at a press conference in Japan on Thursday after agreeing to a $155 million, seven-year deal with the Yankees,"""""

Category: BaseballJonathan Papelbon putting a fan in a headlock who tried to jump into the Phillies bullpen September 8, 2013MLB Double Cut: Week 23Recapping what you missed from the MLB weekJonathan Papelbon putting a fan in a headlock who tried to jump into the Phillies bullpenJonathan Papelbon putting a fan in a headlock who tried to jump into the Phillies bullpenThe Starting Line-Up

1. Falling apart

The previous progress made between the Rays and the city of Saint Petersburg to keep the Rays in the Tampa Bay area is falling apart. The sticking points seem to be the fee the Rays would have to pay in order to leave Saint Pete and demolish/redevelop Tropicana Field.

Bottom line: The Rays will get out of Pinellas County if they want to, but they will have to play ball with Mayor Bill Foster and the city of Saint Pete.

2. The Nine Man Defense

After some research, the folks over at Fan Graphs found only fleeting references to rules involving the catcher. Long story short, the catcher doesn’t have to be squatting behind the plate. Enter the 9-man defense:The 9 man defense, with fewer than 3 balls or 2 strikes and no runners on.The 9 man defense, with fewer than 3 balls or 2 strikes and no runners on.

This defense should only be considered in extreme situations, such as a one game playoff scenario. Would the umps allow it? If they did (which according to the rules, they should), where would the umpire stand to avoid getting hit with pitched baseballs?

3. Overvalued?

Finally, a former closer has called out his own game, closing. Dennis Eckersly, now a Red Sox broadcaster explained, “its not as tough as you think”.

Not every pitcher with nasty stuff is cut out for closing. With this in mind, many pitchers are. It takes all kinds of mental strength, focus, and discipline to make it to the highest level of any profession, especially as a pitcher in baseball. Great relievers can be found and tested, as the Red Sox did with Koji Uehara and their relief core.

Here is where you shouldn’t be surprised: your best overall reliever is usually going to be the best at closing.

4. Breaking down a 3 way tie in the NL Central.

The Reds, Cardinals, and Pirates could easily finish all tied up after the last game of the season according to many projections. If there’s a three-way tie in the NL Central standings, there would be a tiebreaker game, with the loser becoming a Wild Card. Then there would be a tiebreaker game with the winner of the first tiebreaker against the team that hasn’t played a tiebreaker yet. The winner of that game would be the Central champ, and the loser would play a wild-card game against the other loser.

The team with the best record against the others will have the choice (and choose) to not play in the first tiebreaker game.

5. Old school is old school

Tiger’s skipper Jim Leyland doesn’t believe in statistics. Leyland:

“I don’t believe in any of that stuff,” Leyland said. “I won’t listen to any of it and have no interest in talking about it. You can figure out whatever you want. My view of pitchers’ stats is this: Did he give us a chance to win? If he did that on any kind of consistent basis for me, then he’s a very good pitcher.

But I also like guys that win. I’d rather have a pitcher nobody is talking about who has won 15 games than somebody everyone is raving about who has won five. I’m a baseball manager, not a statistician. I’m wasting my time talking about it.” """"""

Sarcastically, Tanaka sucks, Shani had a 1.01 ERA and that was lower than Tanakas, Shani struck out 100 more batter than Tanaka in the same amount of innings. Shani only walked 12 batters all season, far better than Tanaka. I don't care if Tanaka never lost a game. Shani at 13-11 was the better pitcher. This is how the stat frauds think.

afraud realizing he ain't going to be playing for the Yankees in 2014, now says this may be a good thing. Now he can rest and fully recover from his surgeries, juice all he wants, and then is looking forward to helping the Yankees in 2015. What a joke.

In some circles it has been mentioned what a great team mate afruad was, and how much he did to help the new developing kids. I take the WIN METHOD view, afraud was a cancer in the clubhouse and to his team mates, and unquestionably poisoned the youngsters.

I have a question for any stat frauds out there...How could the Yankees in 2013 win more games than they lost while scoring less runs than they allowed for the season?""""

Because a win by 1 run is equal to a win by 10 runs and a loss by 1 run is equal to a loss by 10 runs. The amount of runs scored or not scored is meaningless. Only the W or the L are what matters. The stat frauds are caught off base and caught stealing again.

Ask the stat frauds what it take to get to the playoffs and they will answer with sound bites of garbage and convoluted BS. In fact if you win more than the competition you go to the playoffs. Simple and factual, no ifs ands or buts.

For as long as I can remember the SABR crowd has been unthinkingly declaring that the Yankees can’t win with Jeter at shortstop. Every year the Yankees win about 95 games on average and go to the playoffs. I'll take the WIN METHOD over SABR any and everyday.